Michael Schmidt

Days after the Mueller report dropped with a thud, disappointing the vengeful left, the New York Times is hurriedly changing the subject and burying the lead, moving on from “collusion” to unsubstantiated hints that Trump could still be guilty of something. Tuesday’s front-page story found reporters desperately spinning the subject to “obstruction of justice” while smearing Attorney General Bob Barr’s motives: “Barr’s Move Ignites a Debate: Is He Impartial?”

Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russia interference in the 2016 elections is over, after finding no Trump-Russia conspiracy and issuing no indictments against Americans. With “collusion” a dead letter, the liberal press is investing hope in the other charge, “obstruction of justice.” A story by the New York Times focused on that other avenue in “Barr Goes Beyond Mueller in Clearing Trump on Obstruction, Drawing Scrutiny.” The Times unleashed this snide comment that's apparently already been discredited: "Mr. Mueller failed to reach a conclusion on whether to prosecute Mr. Trump after nearly two years of work, but Mr. Barr, with Mr. Rosenstein’s help, decided in a single weekend."

Perhaps no single reaction Friday night to the conclusion of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation rivaled that of MSNBC’s Hardball host Chris Matthews, who was apoplectic, inconsolable, and irate at the notion the Mueller team will not offer any further indictments in hopes of criminal charges concerning Russian collusion. And even his most adored guests couldn’t avoid his scorn.

With special counsel Robert Mueller’s feverishly anticipated report on the Trump campaign’s alleged ties to Russia expected to drop soon, the front page of Tuesday’s New York Times threw the spotlight (and some air kisses) toward Andrew Goldstein, a prosecutor in Mueller’s office, in “Cautious and Calm Prosecutor Quietly Anchors Mueller Team.” The reporters also doled out some praise for Robert Mueller, "omnipotent fact-gatherer," and found strange significance that the Obama-donating Goldstein's father was a Republican-appointed U.S. attorney.

On Tuesday, MSNBC’s Morning Joe co-hosts and former Trump enthusiasts dedicated just over five minutes more during their first show after a Washington Post scoop about Ivanka Trump using a private e-mail address to conduct official government business than they did on March 3, 2015 for the first show since The New York Times blew the whistle on Hillary Clinton’s private e-mail address and server.

Early Thursday night, the White House released the parameters of an immigration plan being sent to Congress, which included legalizating 1.8 million illegal immigrants. However, this dramatic attempt at a compromise fell on deaf ears at CNN. From 5:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. Eastern, CNN devoted an astonishing 11 times more coverage to the Trump-Russia probe, discrediting the Peter Strzok-Lisa Page scandal, and obsessing over porn star Stormy Daniels than the immigration plan.

MSNBC’s Hardball host Chris Matthews reluctantly waded into the Russia uranium deal story on Tuesday’s show, blasting the calls for a special counsel to investigate the “closed case” Obama-era deal and mocked the story as one that “the right-wing wants you to think is the biggest scandal since the Rosenbergs.”

President Donald Trump was compared to another murderous world dictator on Thursday night as MSNBC’s Hardball host Chris Matthews suggested Trump is just like former Ugandan dictator Idi Amin and North Korea’s Kim Jong-un since Trump and Kim “love the parades” where they can serve as the star alongside military demonstrations.

FBI director James Comey endured condemnation from conservatives for his weak-kneed decision not to prosecute Hillary Clinton for gross negligence in handling classified documents as Secretary of State. But New York Times reporters Michael Schmidt and Eric Lichtblau gave him an atta-boy on the front page of Wednesday’s editionpaying tribute to his toughness, patience, and principles -- while still chiding him for disagreeing with the Obama administration on police brutality: “Public Scolding of Clinton Fits A Pattern of Taking On Power.”

A Friday evening story at the New York Times covered the Obama administration's decision to "try to block the release of a handful of emails between President Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton."

In it, reporters Michael D. Shear and Michael S. Schmidt demonstrated that President Obama undoubtedly did not tell the truth in his interview with CBS News's Steve Kroft in a 60 Minutes episode which aired on October 11.

News broke on Hillary Clinton's email controversy Thursday night, and Michael Schmidt and Matt Apuzzo led with thissentence in their initial report on nytimes.com: "Two inspectors general have asked the Justice Department to open a criminal investigation into whether Hillary Rodham Clinton mishandled sensitive government information on a private email account she used as secretary of state, senior government officials said Thursday." But after pushback from the Clinton camp, that tough lede became a laughably evasive accusation "into whether sensitive government information was mishandled in connection with the personal email account Hillary Rodham Clinton used as secretary of state...."

Apparently nothing is ever the government's fault during the Obama era — even a clear failure by authorities to prevent an alleged mass-murderer from acquiring a gun, and their failure to retrieve it once he obtained it.

Earlier today, before it went down the paper's frequently used memory hole, reporter Michael S. Schmidt wrote in his second paragraph that alleged mass murderer Dylann Roof got a gun despite having a disqualifying drug-possession arrest because of "A loophole in the (national background check) system and an error by the F.B.I." After apparently pushback from some readers, Schmidt revised his report, moving his "loophole" language to a much later paragraph, and characterized it as a problem with "the law," which is still completely wrong.

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